In his The Origin of Inequality "Give civilised man time to gather all his machines about him, and he will no doubt easily beat the savage; but if you would see a still more unequal contest, set them together naked and unarmed, and you will soon see the advantage of having all our forces constantly at our disposal, of being always prepared for every event, and of carrying one's self, as it were, perpetually whole and entire about one." Rousseau's romanticized view of natural man has been translated into a scientific hypothesis by Gerald Crabtree of Stanford University in a recent paper published in Trends in Genetics. According to Crabtree, human intelligence reached its apogee at the time of African hunter-gatherers.
Without knowledge of modern science, Rousseau postulated: The body of a savage man being the only instrument he understands, he uses it for various purposes, of which ours, for want of practice, are incapable: for our industry deprives us of that force and agility, which necessity obliges him to acquire. Crabtree reasons that hunter-gatherers' intelligence arose from selective pressure in response to difficulties of pre-historic life--finding food, fighting off predators, dealing with extreme weather. The advent of agriculture made life easier for men and led to a sort of genetic complacency in the form of weakened natural selection. By Crabtree's estimation, humans have developed at least two mutations that have diminished our EQ and IQ in the last 3,000 years. "A hunter-gatherer who did not correctly conceive a solution to providing food or shelter probably died, along with his or her progeny, whereas a modern Wall Street executive that made a similar conceptual mistake would receive a substantial bonus and be a more attractive mate,” Crabtree said.
Crabtree's scientific reasoning has been refuted by Steve Jones, a geneticist at University College London. In an interview with The Independent "Never mind the hypothesis, give me the data, and there aren’t any, I could just as well argue that mutations have reduced our aggression, our depression and our penis length, but no journal would publish that. Why do they publish this?” Crabtree even provided the disclaimer “I think we will know each of the millions of human mutations that can compromise our intellectual function and how each of these mutations interact with each other and other processes as well as environmental influences. At that time, we may be able to magically correct any mutation that has occurred in all cells of any organism at any developmental stage. Thus, the brutish process of natural selection will be unnecessary.”
But although the science behind Crabtree's hypothesis may not be sound, his premise is pretty intuitive. Modern man is useless without his smartphone and computers. We are missing out on experiments of life by relying on technology. It is easier to use instant messaging to hit on that girl in your Chemistry lecture than to approach her in person. Why remember how to get to Dunkin Donuts in Ypsilanti when you can just use Google Maps? Graphing calculators make math a breeze. Newspapers are a lot less entertaining than an iPhone loaded with interactive news apps. Learning how to shoot a basketball takes a lot more effort than playing NBA 2k12. I am no scientist, but it seems to me the knowledge we have at our disposal is diminished with our use of modern technology.
Images cited:
http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-at-night/files/2011/09/geico-caveman.jpg
http://alonshwartz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Caveman-computer.jpg
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